DIVIDED WE FALL

AMERICANS IN THE AFTERMATH

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, a college student traveled across America and discovered stories of racism, violence, and the power of forgiveness. Her journey became Divided We Fall. On a two-year international tour, the film inspired deep, courageous dialogue about who we are and who we want to be. It captures the imagination of a people hungry for renewal and healing - now more than ever.

"a tour de force: shocking and disturbing yet at the same time deeply moving and ultimately inspiring."
Amy Chua, the New York Times bestselling author of World on Fire and Day of Empire

"a film that is bringing vicious intolerance aimed at innocent people out in the open."
CNN, Paula Zahn NOW

"stunning... could not have arrived at a more significant time in our nation's history."
Philip Zimbardo, Stanford University Professor Emeritus of Psychology

"moving, terrifying, astonishing, but hopeful as it inspires us to become who we believe we are."
Lawrence Lessig, leading legal scholar and bestselling author of The Future of Ideas

"an illuminating meditation upon what it has meant to be 'one of us' in the days since 9/11."
Harold Hongju Koh, Dean of Yale Law School

"a starting point for the new dialogue on race and religion that is essential for America's future."
Diana L. Eck, Harvard University Professor of Religion and Director of The Pluralism Project

Contact: Tracy J. Wells, Communications Director, tracy@dwf-film.com, 404.229.0997

FACT SHEET
Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath
An award-winning film by Sharat Raju & Valarie Kaur 2008 | 90 min | Color | U.S.A. Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath from New Moon Productions is the first feature-length documentary film about hate violence in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. The film weaves together a personal journey and cross-country road trip with an authoritative examination of race, religion, and American identity in the ongoing aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.

Synopsis. Valarie Kaur was a 20-year-old college student when she set out across America in the aftermath of 9/11, camera in hand, to document hate violence against her community. From the still-shocked streets of Ground Zero to the desert towns of the American West, her epic journey confronts the forces unleashed in a time of national crisis racism and religion, fear and forgiveness until she finds the heart of America halfway around the world. Production. Stanford undergrad Valarie Kaur began production one week after Sept. 11, 2001 when she left school to document hate violence against Sikhs, Muslims, and Arabs with her 18year-old cousin Amandeep S. Gill as cameraman. She continued to capture unreported stories as a student until she joined writer-director Sharat Raju and his team in 2004. With grassroots donations, the team retraced Kaurs steps in 2005, revisiting her original interviewees and speaking with scholars and lawyers about the larger historical and political context. For complete production history: http://dwf-film.com/about/production.html Tour. Divided We Fall premiered in Phoenix, Arizona in Sept. 2006 on the five-year memorial of the hate murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi. On a two-year international tour, the filmmakers have been invited to 150 screenings in 90 cities across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and India. For a list of screenings: http://dwf-film.com/tour/pastscreenings.html Campaign. The success of the tour inspired the Divided We Fall Campaign film screenings and community dialogues in 50 cities in the U.S. during the Sept. 11th anniversary in 2008. For a list of upcoming screenings: http://dwf-film.com/tour

Media. Filmmakers Valarie Kaur and Sharat Raju have been featured in national media outlets, including CNN, C-SPAN, National Public Radio, the BBC, and the Religion News Service. For more: http://dwf-film.com/news/video.html Filming Locations. Filmed on location in California (Clovis, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Mojave Desert, San Jose, San Francisco; Oakland/Berkeley, Sacramento, Yuba City, Palo Alto); Arizona (Phoenix, Mesa); New York (New York City); Connecticut (New Haven); Washington, D.C.; and India (New Delhi, Punjab). Technical Details. o Total Running Time: 1:32:00 o Sound: Stereo, LT/RT. o Shooting Formats: Still Photography, Hi-8 Video, Mini-DV Video, DV Cam Video, Super 8mm Film, Super 16mm Film, High Definition Video. (Note: includes archival film footage and television news footage.) o Aspect Ratio: 1:1.85. o Showcase Formats: Digital Betacam; DVCam; DVD. o Film stock: Kodak Vision 2, Super 16mm and 8mm gauges. o Edited on: Avid Media Composer Adrenaline. o Website: www.dwf-film.com Facts. o Valarie Kaur began the journey to make Divided We Fall on Sept. 15, 2001 in response to the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, a turbaned Sikh American her family knew. o Balbir Singh Sodhi was the first of at least 19 people murdered in post-9/11 hate crime. o More than 130 hours of footage was shot over five years for DWF. o Valarie interviewed approximately 100 people during the production. o Nearly the entire crew worked without pay. o Much of the crew was in their twenties when making the film. o Funding for the initial stages of production was raised entirely through grassroots donations. Panavision Cameras New Filmmakers Grant provided a free film camera package to the production. Eastman Kodak donated nearly half of the film stock. o On tour since Sept. 2006, the filmmakers have led two-day dialogue programs around the film at universities, colleges, schools, and communities around the world. o New Moon Productions is named after Valaries grandfathers village in Punjab, India. o The film will be released on DVD with educational curriculum starting in October 2008.

AWARDS AND CRITICAL PRAISE

""
- Orlando Sentinel

"deeply moving"
- Omaha World-Herald

courageous and powerful may this film be seen around the world.
- Frances Moore-Lappe, activist and bestselling author of Diet for a Small Planet

"a moving portrait of one of Americas rawest periods."

- India West

heartbreaking and uplifting, historic and modern see this film!

- Kal Penn, star of The Namesake

Best International Documentary, ReelWorld Film Festival 2007, Toronto Audience Choice Best Documentary, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles 2007 Best Documentary, New Jersey Independent South Asian Cin Fest 2007 Opening Night Film, Seattle Human Rights Film Festival 2007 Official Commendation from the State of California presented by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante Official Commendation from the City of Clovis, California Mai Bhago Spirit of Baisaki Award 2008, Sikh Dharma International Centennial Foundation Seva Award 2007, Toronto, Canada Sikh American Heritage Award 2007, Sikh Council on Religion & Education (SCORE) Sikh Heritage Gala Miri-Piri Award 2007, Orange County, CA Punjabi American Festival Service Award 2007, Punjabi American Heritage Society, Yuba City, CA

THE RESPONSE
"Thank you for jump-starting a dialogue that desperately needs to take place."
26-year-old white male in Berkeley, Calif.

Visit www.dwf-film.com for hundreds of reviews from across the country

"extremely invigorating for my sense of societal responsibility and communal identity."
18-year-old white Jewish male in Portland, Ore.

"helped me see America and its history in a much richer way than I ever have before."
60-year-old white Christian male in Minneapolis, Minn.

"Incredible... moved me to tears. Valarie's voice resonates for us all through this film."
34-year-old Native American Indian female, Phoenix, Ariz.

"stands as an incredibly inspirational reminder of just how connected we all are."

22-year-old African-American male in Atlanta, Ga.

"amazing... should be seen by all Americans."

41-year-old agnostic white female, Omaha, Neb.

POST-9/11 DISCRIMINATION
1700% increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes, from 2000 to 2001, according to the FBI1 More than 1,000 hate incidents reported within one week of Sept. 11, 20012 At least 19 people murdered in hate violence within one year of Sept. 11, 20013 83% of Sikh Americans report that they or someone they knew personally experienced a hate crime or incident since Sept. 11, 20014 64% Sikh Americans express fear of danger to themselves and families since Sept. 11, 20015 41% Muslim Americans express fear of danger to themselves and families since Sept. 11, 20016 3 out of 4 Sikh boys who attend school in Queens, NYC have been harassed or teased on account of their religious identity since Sept. 11, 20017 Hate incidents continue today: increased hate violence in the U.S. corresponds with terrorist attacks abroad as well as critical moments in the U.S. war on terror.

1 2

Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hate Crimes Statistics. 2002. http://fbi.gov/pressel/pressel02/2001hc.htm. Ahmad, Muneer. A Rage Shared by Law: Post-September 11 Racial Violence as Crimes of Passion. California Law Review. 92 Calif. L. Review, 1259. October, 2004. 3 ibid.. 4 The Discrimination and National Security Initiative. We are Americans Too: A Comparative Study of the Effects of 9/11 on South Asian Communities. September 2006. http://www.dnsi.org/research/we_are_americans_too/ 5 ibid. 6 ibid. 7 The Sikh Coalition. Hatred in the Hallways: A Preliminary Report on Bias against Sikh Students in New York Citys Public Schools. June 2007. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/advisories/documents/HatredintheHallwaysFinal_000.pdf

FILMMAKER BIOS
Valarie Kaur Writer and Producer Valarie Kaur has emerged as a powerful voice for religious and racial dialogue from a new generation of leaders in post-9/11 America. A thirdgeneration Sikh American, Valarie is a writer, public speaker, lecturer in religion and ethics, and award-winning filmmaker. Valarie began the journey to create Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath as an undergraduate at Stanford University, where she earned bachelors degrees in religious studies and international relations and was selected as the graduation speaker for her class. She won Stanfords Golden Medal for her honors thesis on post-9/11 America. The film sent Valarie on a packed international speaking and screening tour which continues today. She has been invited as an authority on the subject at more than one hundred universities, colleges, and religious centers across the country. The State of California recently presented Valarie with an official commendation recognizing her work as a scholar, activist, and storyteller. As a Harvard Presidential Scholar, Valarie received her masters in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School and presently studies the intersections between religion and law in post-9/11 America at Yale Law School. She also serves as founding director of the Discrimination and National Security Initiative at the Harvard Pluralism Project. Sharat Raju - Director, Producer, Editor Sharat Raju is an award-winning writer, director, producer and editor.After working with esteemed casting director Mali Finn on numerous films including 8 Mile, Matrix Reloaded, and Matrix Revolutions, he pursued an MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory. Sharat'sfirst film, American Made, gained international acclaim at nearly forty film festivals -- including Tribeca, Aspen Shortsfest, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts -- garnering seventeen awards. In 2006, American Made had its national broadcast debut on the PBS program Independent Lens and will be broadcast through 2010. Sharat recently completed a one-year stint as a 2007-08 Directing Fellow through the Directors Guild of America and ABC Networks. Divided We Fall is Sharat's first feature-length film and his first documentary.The State of California recently presented him with an official proclamation honoring his work as a filmmaker.

FOR COMPLETE CREW AND STAFF BIOGRAPHIES: http://dwf-film.com/crew.html

In this culture of snapshots and sound-bytes, we are starved for stories, real stories, personal authentic voices that lay claim to who we are as Americans. My hope is that this film tells a rich and complex story about the impact of fear and division in America and abroad. The story is about the struggle for recognition. It is an American struggle, the struggle for human dignity. In a nation and world where divisions abound, this message is important now more than ever.
Valarie Kaur
Writer/Producer Divided We Fall

DIVIDED WE FALL
AMERICANS IN THE AFTERMATH
A FILM FROM NEW MOON PRODUCTIONS
Contact: Tracy J. Wells, Communications Director 404-229-0997, tracy@dwf-film.com 236 Fifth Avenue, Suite B Venice, CA 90291

www.dwf-film.com